Women climbers break barriers

•March 5, 2013

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In this Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2013 photo, Nepalese climbers, from left, Maya Gurung, Nimdoma Sherpa, Chunu Shrestha, Pema Dikki, Asha Singh, Shailee Basnet and Pujan Acharya pose for photographs in Katmandu, Nepal. Aiming to change the all-male image of mountaineering in the country, a group of Nepalese women have embarked on a mission to climb the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents. The women, aged between 21 and 32, have already climbed Everest in Asia, Kosciuszko in Australia and Elbrus in Europe and are preparing next week to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa to mark International Women's Day. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Aiming to change the all-male image of mountaineering in their country, a group of Nepalese women have embarked on a mission to shatter that barrier by climbing the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents. Of the 3,755 climbers who have scaled Mount Everest, more than half are Nepalese but only 21 of those locals are women.